WOODLAND HILLS : Chamber Members Get Lesson in Civics

In some ways, the civics students who visited Los Angeles City Hall on a field trip Friday were a lot like any other students. Happy to be freed from their usual routines, they chattered merrily as they boarded a Downtown-bound train in Chatsworth early in the morning.

This set, however, wore high-heeled pumps and silk ties instead of blue jeans and sneakers and were just as likely to grill the guest speakers as to raise their hands first.

That’s because these 16 students-for-a-day were members of the Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce who went to City Hall to learn about the workings of government and discuss community issues with city officials.

High on the visitors’ agenda were concerns about the delay in extending the Metro Red Line subway project to Warner Center, police staffing in the west San Fernando Valley and City Hall’s attitude toward business.

The guest lecturers were no less than Mayor Richard Riordan, City Councilwoman Laura Chick and senior officials from the city planning and transportation departments as well as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Riordan spent most of his hour with the group pitching his new budget and extolling the virtues of Los Angeles, which he characterized as misunderstood.

His proposed 1995-96 budget is 5% smaller than the 1994-95 budget, but his allocations for the police and fire departments are up 6% and 1%, respectively.

We live in the safest big city in the country, Riordan said, citing a survey that found that Los Angeles had gone from having the 16th-highest crime rate to the 25th.

In answer to a question, Riordan said he perceived the morale of LAPD officers as “pretty low,” adding that he has begun to see a change as more police officers have been hired.

Chick told the business people that she supports a city effort to define the boundaries of all the communities in the city and will oppose any requests for local name changes.

According to Chick, the proposal is “buried” in the City Council’s Public Works Committee.

Stephen Holzer, a lawyer, said he was satisfied with the day’s accomplishments.

“I think it’s been valuable,” he said. “I am pleased at (the mayor’s) philosophy of not looking at government as a solution, but merely as a vehicle to help private citizens find solutions in their own neighborhoods.”